Halifax to New Glasgow, NS

July 20, 2019

Saturday I would head east from Halifax, going further out beyond the scenic roads I drove on yesterday to see more of the southern coast before going north across the province to New Glasgow, the Birthplace of Nova Scotia.

I took the expressway, NS-107 (the blue road), back out to Musquodoboit Harbour (where it ended) and resumed my drive east on scenic Route 7.  I went as far as Sheet Harbour where I turned left and headed north on Highway 374 which would take me to New Glasgow.

If you had asked me that morning what things I might see along the way this would not have been amongst my guesses.  Just before entering the little town of Head of Jeddore I saw these along the road:

Evidently someone is a big “The Simpsons” fan…

These large wooden signs were on both sides of the road, at a kid’s entertainment facility (mini-golf, bowling, etc).

They were spot on.  Looked exactly like the TV characters.  There were a few other things there as well:

Slip inside this costume and you might be chosen to be Marvel Comics next superhero – Grasshopperman???  or woman???

This is a cube shaped rock painted as a Rubik’s Cube.  On NS-107 I had also seen a huge, cube-like rock painted as a die (1/2 of a pair of dice).

There was a house behind the facility and I saw a young couple outside.  I went over to ask if they had done the artwork and the woman said it was all done by her father.

Ready for more water pictures??  One of my sisters-in-law already asked me if I’m bored with water scenes.  I admit they are all kind of blending together but today I saw some exceptionally nice views.  I actually took photos of more but the ones facing into the sun were kind of washed out so I only picked the best ones.

The photo above was taken near a bridge, looking inland.  You can see the water rushing in very quickly, creating several small whirlpools.

Standing there watching it I could actually the effect of the water coming in sucking in standing water from the right side.

After getting to Sheets Harbour I proceeded north, passing care-free through my first RCMP (“the Mounties”) speedtrap.  I had my cruise control set right on the speed limit (90 km or roughly 56 mph).  Everything is Canada is metric so distances and speed limits are stated in kilometers.  I set cruise control on the highway but am having trouble not exceeding the lower limits going in and out of small towns (which I do alot of on my smaller, scenic roads).  When I see a sign that says 50 (they only show the digits) my first instinct is to go 50 mph (but they mean 31 mph..).  Route 374 was a pleasant drive, not unlike roads in eastern Pennsylvania or western North Carolina.

I had to chuckle when I arrived in New Glasgow and saw this sign attached to a utility pole:

 

 

Looks like I’m getting closer to “Celtic country” after all…

After stopping to say hello to my Airbnb hosts I set out for a late lunch and a scenic drive west along Route 6, along the water (I thought) to Amherst, near the border with neighboring New Brunswick.  It ended up being more inland than I expected (look closer at the map, dummy!) but it was still a pleasant drive.

Once I got to Amherst, which I had stopped in my first day in Nova Scotia, I hopped on TCH-104 (the Trans-Canada Highway) for a faster trip back to New Glasgow.  I cruised through another RCMP speedtrap on it as well but once again escaped unscathed.